Welcome to Guardians Weekly on the Cleveland Guardians Radio network. Guardians Weekly is brought
to you by Progressive helping Guardians fans save hundreds on car insurance. Hi,
everyone, welcome to Guardians Weekly. Jimros in house along with you from Progressive
Field in downtown Cleveland. Great to have you with us for Baseball Talk on
the radio this weekend. And if you're listening in podcast form wherever and whenever
it may be for you, and we have the Variety Show shaping up for
you this week. A lot of different angles that we'll be covering in terms
of guests and news and information too. First and foremost, after we take
a break here shortly, we will hear from Steven Vote, the new manager
for the Guardians, as the coaching staff has been set. That was the
big order of business that was released earlier this week with three new members of
the coaching staff joining the holdovers from previous years, so a nice blend of
new and holdovers as well. And the manager will fill us in on his
thoughts on the staff makeup and some of the new staff members. We will
hear from the new third base code Truglis o'door. It's a great story in
that this will be his thirty fourth season in Cleveland's organization and his first at
the major league level. And we'll also shift gears and here from John Gray.
He's a pitcher for the Texas Rangers, and he is this year's recipient
of the coveted Bob Feller Active Valor Award. All that coming your way shortly,
but first we'll step aside and take a time out and have more on
the Cleveland Clinic Guardians Radio Network. We are underway in downtown Cleveland. Progressive.
We love sports and saving you money, so we bundled them together.
Top of the seventh looks like a pitching change as they've set up for a
corner kick that two black belts have entered the mat and the slider is low
and away he heads the ball to midfield. This is quite a Kuma's ey.
Here comes the round. Has it got enough guests to get out of
here? Unbelievable. They've bundled their home and auto insurance with good pressive kick
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not available in all states. Are situations in the summer time when the winn
who is high, you can just right out Ben versus guy when the weather's
you got down the two to one delivery, Kwan sends a looping liner into
center field and it drops for basin. Brennan scores the time runs bitch distrossun
set second and Stephen Kwan once again off the left Tandard delivers ay two on
RBI single to center. Here's the wine in the pistol Jose and he sends
a liner towards center field off the end of the bat basin and now drive
for two is Ramiers. He beats the throw of the Hen first slides just
a little flare single off the end of the mat to center, and he
just out hustled Selestino in Buxton and turned it into it's double. Here's one
of the hottest hitters in the game. Josh Naylor to clean up hitter in
first baseman the pitch and he drives on a deep bright center. There she
goes for nothing. Cleveland about that? All right? These are the days
you dream of during the polar fortex when you're looking outside your window in Cleveland
going what are we doing here? Welcome back to Guardian's Weekly Jim Rosenhaus back
with you from Progressive Field in downtown on Cleveland, and as you'd expect with
a change in managers, also a lot of the coaching staff has turned over
as well, but maybe not as much as you would think. Earlier this
week, the Guardians announced the new members of the twenty twenty four on field
coaching staff, and they feature Rugless Odor, a familiar name to those who
are in touch with the farm system for the Guardians, thirty three years in
player development for Cleveland, and he will become the new infield coach and third
base coach as well. Brad Goldberg, who has also been in the system,
not nearly as long as Rugulus Odore, but he's certainly an up and
coming mind on the pitching end of things, and he will fill in as
the bullpen coach for the twenty twenty four season. And Kay Correa comes over
from the San Francisco Giants major league staff. He'll be the major league field
coordinator for the coming season. And as we had heard at the press conference
announcing Steven Vote as manager, Craig Albernaz will also be added to the coaching
staff and he will become the new bench coach for the Guardians holdovers familiar names.
Carl Willis is still the pitching coach. This will be his fourteenth season
with Cleveland Sandy Alomar. He's back as the first base coach his fifteenth season.
Chris Falaka third year as the hitting coach, joined by assistant hitting coach
Victor Rodriguez. Also, Joe Torres will be the assistant pitching coach, and
rounding out that staff is outfield coach j T McGuire and run production coordinator Jason
Esposito. And the bullpen catchers are back Armando Kamacaro for his fifteenth season and
Ricky Pasioni for his eleventh. Earlier in the week, Steven Vote, the
manager for the Guardians, talked about the staff and how excited he is to
see it come together. Yeah. I feel really good about it, you
know, obviously with the coaches that we have returning and the level of experience
that they have, and and then just adding the pieces in that we were
missing, and I feel really good. It's a well rounded staff, people
from all different experience levels but also just wealth of knowledge and couldn't be more
thrilled to have this group heading into the next year. Hey, Stephen,
you mentioned this at your news conference, but what is having that continuity mean,
you know, bringing back Carl and Chris and Sandy, to have those
guys around to kind of show you the ropes a little bit about what's going
on in Cleveland. Yeah, I think it was paramount to have them come
back. I mean, especially with the experienced levels of Carl and Sandy and
their wealth of knowledge and just their love for Cleveland and the players here,
They're going to be a huge, huge help for me. And bringing Chris
back and having the continuity with the hitting group just going into this year,
I think was really important. So I really feel good about everybody who's coming
back as well as the new guys. Steven, do you have a plan
for third base and replay? Replay is still still a work in progress.
We we're getting lists together right now for the candidates for the replay, But
Ruggy Odor is going to be coaching third base, and Stephen Rugi is such
a huge part of the development of the guys that you know are already at
the big league level, and I know from experience he was my first professional
coach and the organization. What was the difference maker for you to want to
promote him from a place in Double A where you know it's it's as important
a developmental place as any. So having you know, kind of that staff
get guys ready for that next level and and ultimately the big leagues. What
was what was that difference maker for you with Rugi? First of all,
the person. Just speaking with Rugi for the first time, you could just
feel his passion and his love for the players and for the game of baseball
and what he's done for this organization on top of that, but more so
the development he's going to have with our young infielders. You know, he's
worked with a lot of these guys as they've come up through the ranks.
Together, there's familiarity, there's a relationship and a trust there already. And
what he's going to be able to provide for our for our middle infield especially
and over all the infield, I think is super important. But for me
with Rugi, it was more this this person, he's earned this, he's
earned this opportunity, And obviously that was one of the most fun phone calls
I've ever made, was to tell him that he's he's going to be on
the staff, and we couldn't be more thrilled, Stephen, What did you
learn about Kay Korea throughout this whole process and bringing him in uh to the
mix here? Yeah, I mean Kai obviously one of the most self self
driven people I've I've ever met. Just hearing his story, we quasi knew
each other coming into this process, but knowing what he's done to help infielders
get better, what he's done to help just organize a staff, and I
think putting him in that field coordinator role is a perfect spot for him.
He's going to be handling a lot of the day to day stuff behind the
scenes as well as being there as an aid for Rugie and JT with the
outfielders, and you know, he's just going to bring a wealth of knowledge
and experience being the bench coach for a few years, He's going to really
be a good aid for Albie and myself as well. Stephen, you played
for a lot of coaches and managers over the year. In your mind,
what are the characteristics that make up the best ones? The best coaches I
ever had cared about the people. They cared about the person first. They
put themselves on the back burner. It's not about them, It's about the
players and obviously very knowledgeable in their area. From a technical standpoint as well,
that's justly very important, but really just people who understand that this is
about the team, this is about the players, and they elevate their themselves
to help the players get better every single day. Steven, what have the
last few weeks been like? Like? What have you had more conversations with
players? Is your head still spinning? Is everything going one hundred miles an
hour? Or do you feel like you're getting acclimated pretty well? You know,
obviously it's going. Every day is busy, but I feel like through
the process, I've really gotten comfortable and found my stride. And you know,
it was crazy trying to put a staff together, the amount of time
that we did for interviews and conversations leading around candidates and things like that.
I mean, we were fortunate to have an extremely talented group of people that
we interviewed and unfortunately only one person could get those jobs. And highly qualified
people and the best part, my favorite part, is that lot a majority
of these are internal and the Cleveland organization as a whole, the minor leagues,
the player development system has been so strong in helping guys get to the
big leagues and now to be able to promote from within, I think is
such a huge, huge thing for us to do. And on your note,
with the players, I've touched base with probably ninety ninety five percent of
the roster either via text or over the own and just trying to get to
know them and for them to get to know me, but while also honoring
the off season. I know the last thing players want to do is be
on the phone with their with their manager all the time, So trying to
balance that act as well. Steve to be your first you know, winter
meetings as as a manager, and you know it is kind of a circus
down there, but will there be an opportunity to get your entire staff together
and everyone just kind of take a breath, break some bread together and just
be like, hey, let's let's rock and roll with this thing. Excited
to get everyone together. Yeah. I mean we actually had our first like
staff meeting today via zoom. So it was kind of fun just to have
everybody together chatting real, real brief. It wasn't long, but just to
say hello, and I know we're going to be getting to work, We're
going to try and get something put together. You know, when you've got
thirteen people that are living all over the world, it's hard to find a
common date. And again, trying to honor people's time in the off season
with their families something that's super important to me. But we are we are
working towards trying to find a time we can get together for a couple of
days, just to you accomplished so much more interpersonally when you're in person together.
But it'll be a lot of zoom calls, a lot of phone calls.
We got a lot of work to do, but excited and I know
that this group is gonna We're gonna do some special things to help these players.
Stephen, what, how do you see the relationship between the bench coach
and the manager. I think it's the most important. And you know,
having Craig Alburn now is in that position. You know, obviously Demorlow leaving
made a pretty big hole on our staff. But to have Craig step up
and take that that spot, I think it's the most important relationship because he's
gonna push me, he's gonna he's gonna challenge me in a lot of ways.
He's gonna he's gonna support me. But he's it's not always going to
be easy, and to have somebody that I know very well personally and somebody
who's pushed me my entire career, he's going to continue to do that and
I want to do that for him. Stephen, what do you think about
the addition of Barlowe? How does that help you think? I think it's
huge to have somebody with that kind of closing experience to be at the back
end with coss A and our other leverage relievers, because you know, in
any given night, one or two of them might be down, and so
to have somebody else that's got some closing experience and now you can shorten the
game to the eighth and ninth. And this is a guy that's had huge
success at the major league level for a long time and really excited to add
to Adam. And is Stephen Vote commenting primarily the coaching staff that he's put
together for the coming season and things starting to take shape, certainly for spring
training and the twenty twenty four season, and you can get an early look
at a lot of the roster as well as Steven Vote and the coaching staff.
Many members will be here for Guardians Fest. Guards Fest will once again
be at the Huntington Invention Center. The date January the twentieth, and tickets
are on sale now. You can pick them up at cl guardians dot com.
It's the tenth annual FanFest event put on by the Guardians and will include
many current Guardians and alumni, autograph sessions, Platinum Glove and Gold Glove photo
opportunities, a chance to meet the new manager for the Guardian Steven Vote,
and a ton of player appearances and more. On the main stage, they'll
be the Field of Dreams Baseball diamond. That's my favorite. I gotta be
right out front the wiffleball field that they put right in the middle of the
convention Center. And what a great time that is for kids. So if
you have kids, bring them on down January the twentieth, the Saturday morning
and afternoon. Depending on whether you're a season ticket holder, you come down
in the morning and then the general public it's wide open in the afternoon,
and again it should be just a ton of fun activities for kids of all
ages at Guardsfest twenty twenty four and tickets are on sale now pick them up
at cl guardians dot com. Speaking of tickets, single game tickets are on
sale in time for the holiday season, and we can certainly can say that
whether you rush it or not, I think once the calendar turns to December,
it's holiday season time and opening Day tickets are on sale and as well
as the entire twenty twenty four home schedule. So head to cl guardians dot
com and get all the information regarding single game tickets for the twenty twenty four
season, including opening Day. Hope to see out here for that. Also,
six packs are on sale now and the ones with the most flexibility,
those would be your voucher packs and the twenty twenty four Flex voucher plans on
sale now. You pick up one of those, and you have the ultimate
and flexibility. You can pick up twenty or forty vouchers to redeem it anytime
throughout the season once you know which games fit your schedule, and you can
redeem up to eight vouchers at a time and choose your seating location for each
of the games that you go to. And they're available in both the lower
bowl and the upper decks. So a lot of different options for the flex
voucher plans, and I'm telling you for the baseball fan in your family.
You put those under the tree and they are happy. And that's the gift
that keeps on giving throughout the summer. So a lot to look forward to.
Head to cl Guardians dot com again for all the information on guards Fest
single game tickets and flex voucher plans. Well, we'll take a break and
when we come back, a great story about perseverance and I think just about
everybody in the organization is extremely happy for rubless Odor. After thirty three years
in player development, he will join the major league coaching staff this season.
We'll talk to him about it when we return after this on the Cleveland Clinic
Guardians Radio Network. Welcome back to Guardians Weekly and we continue our look at
some of the new members of the Cleveland Guardians coaching staff for twenty twenty three
under manager Steven Vote and a very familiar name for those who have knowledge of
Cleveland's farm system. This guy has been in the organization for thirty three seasons.
This coming year will be as thirty fourth. Rubless o'door is the new
infield coach and third base coach, former most recently Doba manager and Akron and
Rula's first off. Congratulations, I know, patience is a virtue, but
man, you have been patient and done some great work in the organization and
it seems like it's paying off now for your first exposure at the major league
level. Thank you, Thank you. I'm excited and truly happy. And
it's an honor and a privilege to be part of the big On staff and
I'm very excited. Thank you. Tell us about the process. When did
you begin that interview process and find out that you would be a part of
Stephen Vot's staff. Well, I got a text. I was on the
middle of a workout here in Venezuela. I'm doing Winter Bowl, and I
had a text from Stephen Vote and he was asking me, Hey, Rugy,
do you have time to talk. I'd like to talk to you.
And I said absolutely. And I was hitting grumballs to the infielders, and
I was glad that I had my phone with me in my pocket and and
I and I told the manager here I got a call, and he goes,
go ahead, Rugie. So he called me and he asked me,
Rugie, you know, I would like you to be part of of the
team as a coach. However, we're going to have to interview you and
are you okay with you know, the process, And I said absolutely,
I would love to. And he said, well, I got to get
back to you and and let you know about the interviews. And that's how
every finished started. So I went through the interview for a few days and
and and I remember I was here in Venezuela in a supermarket. I was
doing some groceries and and my phone ran and and and it's him, and
he told me, uh, Rugie, you got the job. You are
part of I was having And I was so excited and and he said,
really, please, don't don't say anything and yet until we make it formal.
And I asked him, and I tell my mom and dad and he
said absolutely. So that's that's that's what it is. So my first two
people I call mom and dad and and and uh and waiting for the formal
decision and announcement. And it was I was extremely you know, happy,
And again it's an honor for me to be part of the MLB staff for
Cleveland. Anytime there's a managerial change, obviously there's coaching staff changes too.
Did you have a feeling that you might get an opportunity to at least interview
or was that a surprise that that he gave you a call so quickly.
A little bit of bose because I didn't know him and at the same time
him calling me and asking me for you know, going through the interview process,
I'm I'm like, I might have a chance to be with the team.
But at the same time, I didn't really know him, and I
wasn't one percent sure. But after talking to him and asking him some questions,
you know about what was it that he was looking for in a coach
like me, and he he was describing what it was, and I'm like,
I think I have a chance because I have those those qualities. And
that's when I said, you know what, I might have a chance to
be with the big league club. Rugless o'door is joining us and he will
be the third base coach and infield coach for the Guardians this coming season.
Nineteen eighty eight, you joined the organization as a player and since then you've
you've been a coach, a manager at that many different levels. Uh,
this will be your thirty fourth season and first at the major league level.
Did you think that maybe it just your role in this organization would always be
at the player development level, and maybe never in the main your leagus or
did you always have that hope that that at some point you'd get an opportunity.
I always had the whole that I was when I get the opportunity.
Obviously I didn't know when, but but I always had it in my mind,
and I had a lot of people on my side always set on me
a rugie. Make sure you continue to do good, continue to be you,
continue to health the players to become the best they can be. And
and and that's what I did throughout my whole minor league career, trying to
to help the players. And we do such a great job signing not just
good players, but also good people. And you know, the organization has
done such a great job. I mean, it's a blessing that I'm getting
the opportunity right now. And and I'm extremely happy. When you look at
at some of the facets of of what you'll be doing in field coaches,
part of that you'll get to work with a pretty good second basement, especially
defensively. And and Andre seint Manez, how much are you looking forward to
that as a fellow Venezuela And and and one of the top defensive players in
all of baseball. Oh, I love it. I love it. We
already talked, so I had the opportunity to talk to him. He's excited
and and and I told him, Hey, let's see how many gold glove
you can win in a row. So let's skill working and and uh and
doing it right and and and the first the first thing he said is rookie,
Yeah, let's let's work. Let's let's let's do it. And and
and I'm happy that I had the opportunity to work with him in the w
b C and and and obviously this last few years, I've been going to
big league camp, so I kind of have an idea the type of person
he is and the type of player obviously he is, but excited and excited
and and just like him, you know, holds ever mirrors. I also
talked to him. And I'm trying to uh to talk to all the infielders
and and and start establishing and continuing the relationship because most of them I know
them. So it's it's very nice, you know, I last you this
and you mentioned Adam and you you join the team after a good stint uh
managing at the Double A level at Akron. How much of an advantage you
think that will be that that you can hit the ground running because you know
so many of the younger players have been in the organization and have come through
the minor leagues. I think it's huge because once you have your relationship and
the players know you as a staff person, as a as a coach,
they know that that you just want to help them to be the best they
can be. And and I have the relationship with most of them, and
I think it's going to be awesome that we're going to be working together and
again at the big league level. And they already know me. I know
them, so they know what I'm trying to get out of them. So
I think it's going to be an advantage that we're going to have. We're
joined by Ruglas Odore, the new in field coach and third base coach for
the Cleveland Guardians, part of Steven Vote's major league coaching staff for the coming
season, and we catch up with Roogie Down. He's out down in Venezuela
mentioned that he's helping out on a coaching staff for the Venezuelan Winner League.
Rookie Phillison, what you know you hear a lot about winter balling and what
it's like the Venezuelan League. What is that like on a nightly basis?
From a fan standpoint and a competition standpoint, it's very similar to playing big
league games. Every single game matters, and we're trying to do anything any
takes to win Bowl games. And it's a little bit different than the minor
leagues because even though we're trying to win every single game in the minor leagues,
we are also developing players. So if I have to kind of stay
in a message to this end, I would say very similar to the big
leagues, probably more towards the energy season, where we're trying to make it
to the pole siason, but every game from day one is laid out here,
and when do you finish up and head back here and start to go
to work on the season ahead. So if we make it to the post
season, it's going to be the whole month of January and then we get
if we win, we get to go to the Caribbean Rules Series, which
is going to be in Miami in a long depot park for one week.
But if we don't make it, the last game of decisions is going to
be late in December, and then that would be well. I know you
are looking forward to being a part of the major league staff. We've always
had a chance to see out in spring training as part of the major league
staff in recent seasons, but you're a full fledged part of it for the
coming year. And again, congratulations and thanks so much for coming by.
Thank you, thank you, and again it's an honor and a privilege to
be part of the MLB Cleveland staff. That is Ruthless, one of the
good guys in the game, and thanks for his time. We check in.
We spare no expense as we made a phone called to Venezuela to track
down Rugless and talk about his great news personally. And I know for the
team as well, they're excited to give him that opportunity to be a part
of the major league staff after thirty three years in the minor leagues and for
so many who spend that much time, one of the reasons being not because
they don't think he could get the job done at the major league level.
They just love what he does with the young players and he has such an
asset there. So he'll be missed in player development, to be sure,
but certainly an asset for the Major league coaching staff for the coming season.
Stay tuned. When do we come back, we'll talk about the Bob Feller
Active Valor Awards ceremony. It was in Washington, d C. At the
Naval Academy, so just outside d C in Annapolis last week, and the
Major League recipient of the Active Valor Award this year, John Gray Pitcher for
the Texas Rangers, will visit at him next on the Cleveland Clinic Guardians Radio
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com. Progressive Casualty Insurance company and affiliates. Welcome back to Guardians Weekly,
and we are joined now by this year's Bob Feller Active Valor Award winner on
the major league side, current player John Gray picture for the Texas Rangers,
the World Series champion Texas ra John, thanks so much for coming by and
congratulations on a couple of things that the World Series and winning the Bob Feller
Active Valor Award. Thank you. I appreciate that, and thanks for having
me before we get to the World Series and we'll talk a little bit about
that. But obviously fans here in Cleveland have such a soft spot in their
heart for Bob Feller. And when you were named the award winner, how
much did you know about Bob? And then after that time, how much
did you try and learn about him and what the award meant. So before
all of this, the thing I remember about Bob Feller was seeing an old
video of him throwing next to the motorcycle, I believe, and they were
talking about him throwing one hundred miles an hour, So I thought that was
really cool. I thought that was awesome. But just to learn everything I
did about him in his career, everything he's done with the service. I
mean, it's it really is like over the top mind blowing to see how
just full of love as this guy was full of love, he was and
selfless person, and you know, it's it's something that's stuck with me,
like it's it's something I think about all the time. And you know,
they just don't make them like that anymore. When you found out about his
service, could you ever ever imagined And we kind of touched on it before
we took the air here you were with the Rockies coming up, but maybe
at that age, could you have ever imagined saying, you know what,
baseball, let's put baseball on the back burner and go serve our country because
there's things happening no and you know, and that's uh, you know,
that's probably the best thing you can do. You know, ninety nine percent
of us would find an excuse not to, but you know that's just I
guess it just shows the kind of person above is and and while what the
market's left. So you win the award, and obviously there's some great things
you're doing for the military. How long have you been doing it? I
wonder some of the key programs that you have in placed down in Texas.
Well. We've only been working with the military for a little while now,
maybe over a little over a year, but I've got to touch in touch
with ATF. They're down here just south of Dallas. Really good group of
people, veterans. They get together, they work out, they they had
their own facility and they get in there and hang out together and send us
videos and they do this wolf share Wednesday, I believe, and it's it's
pretty funny. So we get we get a lot of stuff from them,
but they're doing good work. They're really it's finding a lot of purpose when
they come back and and really getting that that camaraderie and and just being able
to be with each other because I know that makes a big difference. And
you know things. I mean, my wife and I know because we've had
a lot of family in our military, our family, and we've kind of
seen like the negative side of things that that people don't really discuss a lot,
so we know we know how important this is, and so we really
just wanted to start something where we could just bring families, bring military family
families, hit a ballpark and just spend a day with this and watch a
game. I mean, we've always felt like that's went a long ways just
to get out and hang out and just spend a day with us. So
it's been a great thing, and you know, it's gotten to be the
lot of great people along the way, so we're truly blessed. I know.
That's that's just a small part of the many community initiatives have going with
the Rangers, but this one obviously recognized as as the Bob Feller Active Velor
Award winner. Our good friend Bobby Biassio here with the Guardians Spearheads, has
spearheaded the the event at the Naval Academy every year. What was that like
for you? Explain some of the experiences that you had last week at the
event. Oh man, that was that was really awesome, just being able
to hang out there with with all the military members. I met some great
families. Uh, the Navy baseball team was in the house, so I
got to chat it up with them for a little bit and talk some ball.
So it was it was really really cool. It was very very cool
to see how formal everything was and see all the all the guys in their
uniform. I mean, it was it was it was a tree. It
was pretty intimidating because I knew I was gonna have to speak at some point,
but but it was it was truly an honor. It was really really
fun. And when you met them in Navy baseball team, did you ever
maybe think about what they go through just to get on the field after their
day of of academics and military drills and things like that. How it must
be to be able to play a little bit of baseball anyway. Yeah,
I always thought about that and always thought that was interesting. So I was
sure to ask them a few questions, and yeah, I mean they were
they were great. We had to hang out for a good while, actually,
like twenty thirty minutes, so you know, I asked them how it
was when they can play like Army and other teams like that, So it
was it was really cool. Things are a little different that they do,
but still I think that'd be something I would enjoy doing, you know.
So it was really cool to be able to experience that again. John Gray
of the Texas Rangers joining us. So he's this year's Bob Feller Active Valor
Award winner, and John, you're a World Series champion. I bet that
sounds good every time someone says that it does it still it still feels new,
So it still feels good. It's awesome when you look back on it.
When when we saw the Rangers for the last time here in Cleveland,
it was getting near the tail end of the season, and I know the
team had some ups and downs in the second half. What clicked in down
the stretch and in the postseason for your ball club, I just think I
think our team has like a lot of a lot of fight. I think
a lot of fight, you know. And not not to say that we
feed off of drama, but when things get a little bit serious, things
to get a little more pushy, I feel like we get better. And
we're also a team that we yeah we'll have our downs, but we are
downs only last for a week, maybe two at tops, but we're right
back in there. Things don't really drag out for a month with us.
You know, we have a bad week, we're coming back and playing two
more weeks of good baseball. So I thought we stayed in the fight really
well. We'd never got too far out of whack, never checked out,
and it was hard fought till the end. I mean, it wasn't it
definitely wasn't easy. So you know, I can't be more proud of our
club and your career Colorado Rocky until last year you signed with Texas. Obviously
there's expectations and hopes that it could be a good move. What led you
there and what made you think, hey, maybe this could really happen.
Well, I guess number one geography of everything, I'm v Ocahoma. Still
being here in Texas feels a lot like home. It's you know, we're
really blessed being right here. And then again, like the direction of the
club was headed having talks with Cy and some of the front office when before
I came, I mean it was I knew, I knew what they wanted
to do. I knew what they were all about, and and they were
very like excited about me too, and that felt really good. So it
was a perfect fit. It messed really well together. And you know,
I'm excited to see what our club's still gonna do. But but couldn't be
could be more pleased so far, may just be scratching the surface. They's
gonna be a handful for just about everybody else. But just based on how
things went this fall, for sure, Congratulations on the World Series and the
Bob Feller Active Valor Award. John Gray, thanks so much for coming by
today. Thanks so I appreciate that. And it's John Gray of the Texas
Rangers, the eleventh Bob Feller Active Valor Award winner, and that award and
a great ceremony given to John as well as the others involved last week at
the Naval Academy Annapolis, Maryland. That's going to put a cap on our
show this week. A lot to get to and hopefully we covered all the
bases this week. But thanks as always to Brian Matse for helping to put
together our show each and every week. We'll join you again next week for
another edition of Guardian's Weekly right here on the Cleveland Clinic Guardians Radio Network.
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